Top Five Favorite Vampire Books/Series
I
love vampires. There
are piles of novels featuring vampires, and I’ve been asked several times why I
would want to add to that pile. Part of the answer is simple: I wrote the first
draft of Legally Undead almost ten
years ago, after Buffy, but before
the Twilight series came out—and before there was quite so much vampiric
competition. But I decided to go ahead and submit it for publication because in
my narrator Elle Dupree’s world, vampires are not sexy. They’re frightening and
deadly—and they’re the kinds of vampires I want to read about. Not that I can’t
be convinced by a sexy vampire—Damon Salvatore, Spike, Jean-Claude. . . . But
the terrifying vampires are the ones that fascinate me. The list below of my
top five (recent) vampire books highlights that fascination. (Note that in the
case of series, I have listed the first book.)
I
loved Black’s short story of the same name and was initially a little
disappointed to discover that the novel was not, in fact, a continuation of the
same story but rather a new story set in the same world. But that
disappointment quickly disappeared as Black’s novel drew me in. The vampires
here are horrifying—and being the single (potential) exception to that rule
makes the love-interest vampire equally terrifying and attractive, adding up to
the kind of vicarious adrenaline rush that draws me to vampire tales in the
first place.
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I re-read this book every year or
two—I just finished the latest re-reading in November. McKinley does a
beautiful job of setting up a world that is almost, but not exactly, like our
own. The eponymous protagonist almost seems to ramble sometimes, but the voice
is perfectly her own and the things she reveals about herself are beautifully
woven back into the plot. Also, the vampires are creepy as all get-out!
Unlike
most of the books I read, Quiver is
not speculative fiction. It’s a psychological thriller about
obsession—specifically, obsession with Elizabeth Bathory, the psychotic
sixteenth-century Hungarian countess who bathed in the blood of her (many!)
victims in an attempt to make herself younger. Luhning’s depiction of a
dissatisfied academic pulled further into a world of horror and intrigue is
both compelling and unsettling. So this isn’t really a “vampire” novel in the
strictest sense—but it draws on vampire mythology in interesting ways.
This
was probably the first book I ever heard called a “urban fantasy”—though the
term Hamilton used for it was “paranormal mystery.” In the early novels of this
series, Anita Blake, is based more on the gritty noir detective than the
romance heroine. Though the series shifts toward the erotic later, the early
novels are still among my favorite paranormal mysteries/urban fantasies.
This
series has landed on my favorite vampires and my favorite shapeshifters lists. I’m
a fan of shapeshifter novels in general, and of this series in particular. I
like Hunter’s twist on the shapeshifter standards—in these novels, Jane shares
her body and her consciousness with a big cat she calls Beast. Watching the two
of them negotiating their shared life is almost as much fun as watching them
work through whatever mysteries and problems come their way because of Jane’s
job as bodyguard to vampires.
_____________________________________________
My own vampire novel is Legally Undead, available May 27 from World Weaver Press
A
reluctant vampire hunter, stalking New York City as only a scorned bride can.
Elle Dupree has her life all figured out: first
a wedding, then her Ph.D., then swank faculty parties where she’ll serve wine
and cheese and introduce people to her husband the lawyer.
But those plans disintegrate when she walks
in on a vampire draining the blood from her fiancé Greg. Horrified, she screams
and runs--not away from the vampire, but toward it, brandishing a wooden letter
opener.
As she slams the improvised stake into the
vampire’s heart, a team of black-clad men bursts into the apartment. Turning
around to face them, Elle discovers that Greg’s body is gone—and her perfect
life falls apart.
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Legally Undead Trailer:
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Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels,
including Waking Up Dead, Fairy, Texas, and Legally Undead (forthcoming May 27, 2014). She lives in Texas with
her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. She teaches
college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love.
She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends
most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves,
and other monsters.
_____________________________________________
Connect with Margo
Amazon Author Page:
Email:
MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
Website:
http://www.MargoBondCollins.net
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin @MargoBondCollin
Goodreads
Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy
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Be
sure to add Legally Undead to your
Goodreads bookshelves: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18366353-legally-undead
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1 comment:
Thanks so much for hosting me today!
I'd love to hear about your readers' favorite vampire books or series!
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